Reed Pushing To Keep Funding At W. Valley Site

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, wants to keep funding the West Valley demonstration project while also commissioning a federal report to get a better handle on what remains on the site and what can be done to remediate the site.

Reed introduced H.R. 1138 Tuesday in the House of Representatives. It was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. No votes have been scheduled. Reed proposed similar legislation last year that was passed by the House but was not passed in the Senate.

That legislation, H.R. 2389, authorized appropriations for ongoing cleanup activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project, a nuclear waste remediation site in New York. The bill also would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report to the Congress on options for disposing of the site's radioactive waste.

Reed is asking for $75,000,000 for fiscal years 2019 through 2025. In addition to the funding, Reed's legislation requests, within 18 months of the legislation's passage, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report that describes:

¯ the volumes, origins, and types of radioactive waste at the Western New York Service Center in West Valley, New York;

¯ what options have been identified for disposal of each such type of radioactive waste;

¯ what is known about the costs of, and timeframes for, each such option;

¯ the benefits and challenges of each such option, according to the State of New York and the Department of Energy; and as of the date of enactment of the legislation's passage:

¯ how much has been spent on the disposal of radioactive waste associated with the demonstration project prescribed by section 2(a) of the West Valley Demonstration Project Act; and

¯ what volumes and types of radioactive waste have been disposed of from the Western New York Service Center.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for remediating sites contaminated with radioactive waste and other environmental hazards stemming from federal activities related to the production of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy research.